A conveyor is a mechanical handling apparatus useful for moving loads, such equipment or materials, from one location to another. Typically, a load is applied to an intake end of the conveyor, such as by hand or with a lift or other form of load-handling device. After the load is applied to the conveyor, the conveyor is useful for moving the load from its intake end to its output end where the load is unloaded from the conveyor.
Conveyors are often formed with wheeled motorized and non-motorized vehicles, such as trucks, lifts, and the like. The vehicle is wheeled to a chosen location where the conveyor is used to transfer loads from an offloading location to an uploading location, after which the wheeled vehicle is wheeled away, such as to another location for continued use or to a chosen storage location. In some situations, the uploading location is a transport vehicle used to transport the load to a selected location for subsequent offloading, such as by the previously-used conveyor or another chosen conveyor.
Equipment and materials are routinely moved short distances, such as in warehouses, hardware stores, server facilities, furniture stores, and the like. In these fields, loads are moved about by hand, often at great effort and often with the assistance of hand trucks or wheeled trolleys, or with the assistance of lifts, such as forklifts. Although hand trucks, wheeled trolleys, and forklifts are useful for moving loads short distances, it can be difficult and time consuming to upload and offload loads to and from these implements.
Given these and other deficiencies in the art, there is a need for a load-conveying and transport apparatus that incorporates a conveyor useful for conveying loads placed thereon from one location to another, and that is configured to quickly, easily, and efficiently convert to a pallet, a transport structure that supports loads in a stable fashion while being lifted and moved about.